Jade Hall (Yu Tang)

Also known as the "Hanlin Academy", an official body in Beijing open only to scholar-officials who received the "jinshi" (metropolitan) degree. Hanlin Academy or "Office of the Forest of Brushes" was founded in 738, and once it gained control over rescript writing, became the pre-eminent scholarly institution of the inner court. Occurs on porcelain marks as Yu Tang Jia Qi = "Beautiful Vessel for the Jade Hall" in differing calligraphic forms on Minyao works from Jiajing, Wanli, Tianqi, Chongzhen, Shunzhi and Kangxi. There also was another mark "Ju Tang Mi Qi" that can be found on Shunzhi and Kangxi pieces.